This seemed fitting because when I thought about it, I tended to like buildings that evoke a sense of awe through their tectonic expression and experiential qualities. This means I am drawn to buildings that are conceptualized and detailed in such a way as to evoke a sense of awe by not readily revealing their construction. For example, I appreciate super thin Japanese surfaces or massive Brutalist forms, or that wondrous feeling of natural light washing down a wall from a hidden skylight above. On the other hand, for example, I am not drawn to piece-y British High-Tech or exposed board & batten. The Sublime is counter to superficiality and appliqué. A simple exercise is this: if you look at the end of a typical thin drywall partition in a house, you know that it is simply a 2x4 with drywall both sides – not Sublime; to effect even just the slightest feeling of Sublime, you could either taper the wall to a point or thicken it and form a mass, thus when you look at that wall now it makes you wonder a little, how was that made?
Throughout our travels so far, from Japan to Europe to Scandinavia, I have observed that the Sublime is one of the defining characteristics of buildings I find remarkable. It has been the root of my thoughts on architecture and lately I have been thinking more about how it plays into developing the bigger picture of my own paradigmatic practice/praxis. As a teaser, the Sublime is one part of the aspirational principles that form the foundation of the practice in its current conception, acronymed as EDGZ. E stands for ’Exoteric’, D stands for ‘Distilled’, G stands for ‘Gesamtkonzept’ (a riff on architectural term
Gesamtkunstwerk), and Z stands for 'Zen-blime' (a portmanteau of zen and sublime). Each of these aspirational principles has a defining characterization, another acronym – MACE: Methodological, Aesthetic, Conceptual, Experiential.
These aspirational principles will be explored in future posts. I should note that this forward-presenting paradigm is but one facet of the practice, for it cannot be understated the importance also of service and systems, which are essential for creating lasting partnerships. Each project, at least in the traditional mode of practice, is a melding of minds, where clients' vision and architect's praxis interplay to manifest structured reality. Our stake in this sublimating process is both as a professional as well as an auteur, for we endeavour to guide and serve the client with utmost professionalism, through constantly improving streamlined systems and committing to prompt communication, while also striving to craft new visions through the EDGZ paradigm with every effort. Making a building is no small feat, involving myriad parties with sometimes conflicting interests amid the constraints of physical reality, so our outlook is always that each project should represent stakeholders' interests with conviction and elicit those feelings of delight and awe integral to our search for the Sublime.
To be continued…